402 HOME KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROVINCES. 



an important tributary of the Restigouche. The flat 

 lands at the month of this tributary are chiefly on the 

 Canadian side ; and there Mr Ritchie, the most extensive 

 lumber-merchant on the river, has a farm on which he 

 has this year raised five thousand bushels of oats, and 

 where green crops are said to thrive well. This gentle- 

 man informed me that, about fifty miles higher up, the 

 ^river passes for ten or twelve miles through an undulat- 

 ing tract of land of considerable breadth of the richest 

 quality, and, as he thought, one of the most promising in 

 the province. His lumbering expeditions gave him 

 opportunities of seeing and judging of the country not 

 possessed by other parties ; and I insert these and other 

 particulars regarding this river because it struck me, 

 from its natural beauty and fertility, and from the 

 peculiarly healthy tone of character displayed by its 

 present rural population, to be more worthy of the 

 attention of those desirous of changing their homes 

 than either we or the New Brunswickers generally are 

 in the habit of supposing. 



As I have above remarked, the people of the colonies 

 sometimes express great indignation that we at home 

 know so little about their capabilities, or even their 

 geography. But my own experience in New Bruns- 

 wick — which province I explored the most thoroughly 

 — is, that the provincials themselves know their own 

 country little better than we do at home. I may even 

 doubt if they know some parts of it so well. But 

 supposing our ignorance as great as some incline to 

 represent it, this answer to the complaint might be 

 made. The whole of the vast territory of New Bruns- 

 wick contains little more than half the population of the 

 cities of Manchester or Glasgow. A single street in 

 either city contains more people than the majority of 

 their towns and cities. As well, therefore, might the 

 householder in an obscure lane in any of our great cities 



